Illegal workers must go

Editor - I keep hoping for some balance from the media, but it just isn't happening. Once again, The Chronicle has glorified breaking the law and distorted the truth in the process (Editorial, "A war on state's economy," Aug. 19).

Reality check No. 1: Only 2 percent of illegal immigrants work in agriculture. The future of agriculture in California is in mechanization, not an endless stream of illegal workers who get free health care, free education for their kids, welfare and even subsidized mortgages.

Reality check No. 2: Poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans want immigration laws enforced and oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. When given the choice between amnesty and attrition through enforcement, an overwhelming number of citizens support attrition through enforcement. In this scenario, the jobs and benefits magnets are removed and illegal immigrants return home on their own.

I have another question for the pollsters quoted in the "Voice of the West." Did you survey illegal immigrants or just California citizens? What a surprise it would be if illegal immigrants didn't want immigration laws enforced.

Editor - The Chronicle's foolish editorial on the Bush administration's war on employers ignores one basic fact: The American people want the immigration mess cleaned up. No one in the government has been more "open borders"-friendly than President Bush and his immigrant-friendly team. My solution? Go after the employers beginning with the grape growers. After all, we don't need wine.

RANDY LIEBER

Menlo Park

Systematic response

Editor - Khaled Galal's claim that 750,000 Palestinians were "systematically expelled" by the newly established Israel (Letters, Aug. 19) is a systematic repetition of the 60-year-old distortion based on a systematic refusal to admit that those Palestinians were victims of the systematic war waged by the Arab states against Israel and their systematic defeat followed by a systematic refusal to discuss peace.

He also fails to mention that at the same time a similar number of Jews were systematically dispossessed and threatened in the Arab countries and systematically expelled, mostly to Israel. It is time for the Arab countries to admit responsibility for the irreversible losses suffered by both of those groups, Arabs and Jews.

SAMUEL BROYDO

Los Altos Hills

Consumers and defects

Editor - The report about governments and corporations scrambling to address the "cascade of defective products from China" was an excellent overview ("Stakes are high in China recalls," Aug. 19). However, there is a huge problem being overlooked in the debate - the role American consumers play in this mess.

Each one of us has to look in the mirror and ask about how we contribute through a culture that demands lower and lower prices and higher and higher corporate profits. After all, isn't this one of the root causes of these defective products? We want to buy our children's toys cheap, while our investments maintain the highest possible returns.

We have been complacent about letting manufacturing go to where people's wages are pennies on the dollar compared with ours, and the safety of the workers - and that of our children - is compromised. This won't change until we require that the Mattels of the world demand enforceable quality controls and inspections in the factories of their overseas contractors. We, the consumers, have to let them know we are willing to pay the price increases that will be necessary to pay for this.

TOM DEBLEY

Oakland

It's the oil, stupid

Editor - Thanks to David Bacon for clarifying the controversy surrounding the Iraqi oil law ("Why Iraqis oppose U.S.-backed oil law," Insight, Aug. 19). Why do you suppose that Congress can't grasp how disastrous, let alone unpopular, it would be to turn over Iraq's oil to foreign corporations, which the Bush administration tells Congress is the most important benchmark we have set for the Iraqi government?

The good news is that Iraq's oil industry workers are fighting back. The fact that their movement has attracted union members from other trades, and that they've made some headway, represents the first glimmer of hope so far that any force within Iraq can effect national unity. The fact that the United States has opposed them so vehemently puts the lie to our claim that Iraqi national unity is our goal, too. Apparently, it's the oil, stupid. What a surprise!

More and more members of Congress are speaking out against permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. They need to speak out against the Iraqi oil law, too.

An accidental sea

Editor - I found the Aug. 19 Open Forum article, "Salton Sea - A time for action," curious indeed. The writer laments the destruction of the Salton Sea and is working to save the Salton Sea from disappearing.

Curious is the fact that the writer did not once mention that approximately 100 years ago the Salton Sea did not exist. The Salton Sea is the result of a man-made engineering disaster. In 1905, massive flooding on the Colorado River overcame irrigation diversion channels and directed the river unchecked into the Salton Sink for two years. In 1907, the flow was stopped and the river assumed its natural course. The residual water formed the Salton Sea.

Fish were plucked down into the sea by well-meaning folk that wanted to turn the Salton Sea from engineering disaster into a recreation area.

I see the writer is working for a nonprofit group that is working to save the sea. I wonder if the true intention, like so many environmentalists, is to line their own pockets from gullible people ignorant of the facts.

Watchdog in bed with Big Energy stocks

Editor - Thank you for your excellent reporting on the fossil-fuel investments of Mary Nichols, the Schwarzenegger-appointed official nominated to enforce California's new greenhouse-gas emissions law ("Global warming watchdog invests in oil, coal utilities," Aug. 18).

Several months ago, Nichols made a public statement supporting the importation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into California. LNG is a highly polluting fossil fuel, which will emit millions of tons of greenhouse gases, should California begin to import it. Many of us wondered what motivated this so-called environmentalist to support such a backward energy choice. Your article details how this support may have been motivated by personal gain.

It is simply unacceptable to have someone with fossil-fuel interests regulating such a critical issue as greenhouse gases when the opportunity for taking effective action is quickly running out. Our rapidly changing climate does not allow room for error or half-measures undertaken by someone with a conflict of interest. She must either completely divest from fossils, or withdraw her nomination. The Earth's bottom line is far more important than hers.

RORY COX

California Program Director

Pacific Environment

San Francisco

Editor - So, having been caught apparently in bed with Big Energy, Mary Nichols wants us all to believe that she didn't have sex with those energy regulations. Yet another more equal pig waddles up to the public trough, but wants us to trust them when it comes to their portfolios, being as it's "family money." Is this what they mean by "family values"?

The die was cast by Vice President Dick Cheney some time ago. Why shouldn't a public servant change their tune, depending on the piper? They only follow the dominant leader, after all.

I find them hard to believe - both what they say and the nerve they have to say it. Anyone who accepts their nonchalant defenses and explanations might be interested in buying a bridge in Minneapolis.

JAN ARBOGAST

Mariposa

Safe injection sites

Editor - After reading multiple articles and letters to the editor in The Chronicle regarding the public-safety issue of syringes being discarded in the park, I was surprised that effective interventions demonstrated to reduce harm to both the drug user and the community weren't given a mention.

We need a commonsense, public-health solution. In addition to installing 24-hour drop boxes for needle disposal in high injection drug-use areas, we need safe injection facilities. There are at least 28 sound scientific studies, published in peer reviewed medical journals showing that safe injection sites enhance public safety, reduce disease transmission and significantly promote admission to detoxification and substance-abuse treatment.

By providing a safe, clean space for injection drug users to administer their substances and dispose of their paraphernalia, we can reduce overdose deaths, soft-tissue infections and the associated high-dollar emergency-room visits. It's an opportunity for intervention, education and referrals to services. It's time to take a truly progressive approach that is compassionate, safe and exhibits fiscal common sense. San Francisco needs to take the lead with smart public-health policy based on empirical evidence, not fear-based rhetoric.

WILLIAM BUEHLMAN

Certified addiction treatment counselor

San Francisco

Go outside and play

Editor - For the generation that has grown up with video games as recreation and text messaging as communication, it is indeed gratifying to see some physical play time come into the equation ("Playground mentality comes to the office," Aug. 18). But guys, how about really risking it 'n going outside?! Trust me, a little sunshine and fresh air might lead you down some other exciting paths!

HONOR SPITZ

Mountain View

Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Editor - I found your headline, "Lincoln Brigade a commie front" (Letters, Aug. 18), rather curious. Although anyone has a right to say anything in their letter to the editor, true or not, your headline seems like something out of the McCarthy era. It is reminiscent of a time when American citizens were persecuted for their beliefs, and dissent against government policy was labeled treason. I trust the headline was in gest.

Members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade made vast contributions to this country not only in social activism, but also in the fields of literature, science, medicine and the arts.

RICHARD BERMACK

Berkeley

(Author of "The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.")

Editor - In the Aug. 11 edition you printed a letter from William J. Hughes regarding the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. At the conclusion of his letter, Hughes gave an address for the ALB Archives for donations toward the memorial, which is to be installed in San Francisco. I attempted to donate via that address and found it to be incorrect. The corrected address is: Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, 799 Broadway, Rm. 227, New York, N.Y. 10003.

JEANNE LASSEN

San Francisco

Chronicle of wrinkles

Editor - The fact that many readers of The Chronicle have been reporting that the paper has more wrinkles than found on a prune (Letters, Aug. 11 and 18) appears not to matter to management. After all, what would the reader's know? I have sent letters reporting that Chronicles delivered to Napa are wrinkled and creased so badly, that parts were illegible.

No other paper that I purchase seems to have this challenge. When I have informed The Chronicle of this issue, they advise that my concern will be sent to the "right department." The people in the "right department" must be on an extended vacation - or maybe the quality-control manager was part of the layoffs.

Evidently, no one seems to care that readers continue to be disappointed daily by purchasing wrinkled papers that are unreadable. Yes, folks, free wrinkles are always guaranteed for the price of a Chronicle. However, many loyal readers are now considering alternate purchasing decisions until wrinkles are removed. How else are you going to prove a point to The Chronicle and its production line?

Lastly, removing wrinkles from this newspaper seems to mystify management. Are their any folks or mystics out their who can share the secret of "removing wrinkles"? We know a paper who can use your wisdom and services.

KAL EDWARDS

Napa

Editor - I subscribe to both The Chronicle and the New York Times and over the past few months I have discovered a very surprising difference. Believe it or not, the "Gray Lady" has fewer wrinkles.